Joy or Bust
Every turn lately leads me to question everything. I’m contemplating the meaning of work. I’m puzzled by the life timelines of those I love taken too soon. I’m carefully examining what a purposeful existence looks like in my body’s efforts. The media causes me to wonder what that off-grid lifestyle might better feel like, or to sign up for that long-haul trek to the top of the highest mountain to get away from it all. My recreational and social activities are near screaming at me to drench my thoughts in their distractions. I’m asking for refuge and resplendence in my silent innermost conversations. I’m seeking recovery from a world seemingly gone mad.
Instead, I think it’s prime time for reigniting my happiness barometer. I want the glint back in my eyes. It’s time for me to hang out with joy. Joy is the basis for all good things in life. It’s the root cause of happiness. It’s the secret sauce for kindling love, routing a hailstorm of anger into mushiness, trampling the angst of worry into a feat of crowd-cheering amplification, and the wise knowledge of a baby’s first cries as anything but harrowing. Because joy is the essence of alive. Therefore, joy is the Slip N’ Slide to ride in life.
Often we counter that joy is hard to find or even hidden. We all can testify to moments where nothing adds up. When no matter how much you want, try, push, pull, resign, or pray, the world seems out to counterattack with a giant curveball. Sometimes it might appear more like an asteroid. It is then I ask you to sink deeper to find it. Joy doesn’t have to be profound. Joy offers itself simply, majestically, lazily, and prolifically. Joy has a place in everyone’s pockets of life-packed-positivity to keep you going.
Joy is inclusive of personal and professional. Joy makes room wherever you allow it. The blind farmer on the outskirts of the northern Ethiopian rural community may find joy in the rare Westerner willing to visit to learn about his people and his land, as he lifts his hand to feel the smile across their face being honored to listen to his story. Joy lends itself to many soft animals whose fur your stroking produces pleasure for them and delightful calm for yourself. Joy might be brushing your teeth, sailing the Adriatic Sea, climbing to the top of the lookout of ‘The Man’ at the Burning Man festival, or sharing a long-winded call about all kinds of life moments with your sibling.
I became acutely joyful when infusing my Memorial Day holiday morning to beam business brilliance with a new British friend. Joy was bursting at our seams as we toppled over one another’s energy on so many more levels than our first meeting. It’s this type of joy on which I could bankroll the word connection. Joy lives and grows in funding our most felicitous expressions. Joy is a currency we cannot afford to dismiss.
We must continue to create more joy for ourselves. From joy we spark innovation. Innovation is the nucleus of solving world problems and personal ills. Joy welcomes collaboration. We see there is good fortune in hints of trusting others and following the path to a successful fruition. Joy’s inclusiveness evokes the necessity of trust. When we are able to trust one another we get back to love. Joy and love are kissing cousins.
You can test joy in the very reaches of your being and outwardly among your life peers. Joy summons the pulse of all time. Joy is the throb of happiness flexing its greatness into your forcefield. Joy may fill you with desire, yet doesn’t leave room for possession. Joy leaves the ego behind. Joy is the playful wind in your hair cruising down the sunny road in a convertible blasting best tunes and the crackling of the fireplace as you sink into the fluffy rug and a lover’s arms in the depths of winter. Joy makes you howl at the peak when you’ve achieved your pinnacle hike spot and when tears alight your face with anyone you care for in a touching moment.
I declare a sense of joy or bust! Go forth with a hop in your step, that prospect of things looking up in your corner, and that boundless ability to tap into any bit of joy if you just look well enough. Joy evokes the right of a life full of living. The alternative bust doesn’t serve you, nor another soul. Busting up joy avenues only serves defeat. If you’re missing the oxygen of joy and need to plug in try asking another what they find about you the brings them joy. Maybe you didn’t know your dingy old crocheted garment brought another person immense joy. They loved the wild colors, worn softness, and never had the skills to craft such a beauty themselves. Maybe close your eyes and slowly stroke your own body’s curves to feel the joy of your own skin in your sexy self. Maybe go walkabout and aim to discover if there’s any joy you may find. I bet you’ll stumble across at least a few bits of joy without trying too hard. I often find street art with significant messages, animals eager to get a friendly hello from me, or that ravishing stranger ready for a chat with little ol’ me.
Just inJOY!
